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Revealing Charlie Gordon’s Trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.REVEALING CHARLIE GORDON’S TRAUMA IN DANIEL KEYES’SFLOWERS FOR ALGERNONDesy Eka FatmawatiEnglish Literature, Languages and Literature Departement, Surabaya States University.E-mail: desyekaa22@gmail.comAbstractTrauma is a common psychological problem of human being. Meanwhile, intelligence is a human gift as a ‘tool’to give ‘intellectual responses’ in life. Bloom mentioned that our very complex brains and powerful memoriesdistinguish us as the most intelligent, and yet as we will see, it is this very intelligence that leaves us vulnerable to theeffects of trauma (Bloom, 1999, pp.2-3). This thesis focuses on Charlie Gordon in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers forAlgernon. The purpose of this thesis is to reveal Charlie Gordon’s trauma in Flowers for Algernon.This thesis includes the analysis about Charlie’s trauma depicted in the novel, and the reasons why the traumahappens on Charlie in the novel. The writer applies library reseach method using theory of trauma and its symptoms byJudith Herman, concept of mental retardation by WHO, and concept of gifted by Sword and Silverman. In the dataanalysis, there are two steps which are applied: First, analyzing how the trauma depicted by using theory of traumasymptoms and theory of intelligence. The theory of trauma symptoms is applied in Charlie’s two conditions: mentallyretarded man and intelligent man. Then, for knowing the role of Charlie’s intelligence in affecting his trauma, theory ofintelligence which include mental retardation and genius/gifted are applied. And second, analyzing the reasons why thetrauma happens on Charlie using theory of trauma.The result of this thesis shows that Charlie Gordon as retarded man, although has the trauma, does not get mucheffects on him. Meanwhile, the intelligent Charlie feels the effects of the trauma worse. Although individual withretarded condition is more sensitive to stress which can lead to trauma, the effect it has is less serious than individualwith enough intelligence. Furthermore, the role of Charlie’s intelligence in influencing his trauma to either worsen thetrauma or make it better and the reasons why the trauma happens to him are revealed.Keywords: trauma, traumatic experience, symptoms of trauma, intelligence, mental retardation, genius/gifted.AbstrakTrauma merupakan masalah psikologi yang sudah tidak asing. Sementara itu, inteligensi merupakan berkah yangdimiliki setiap individu sebagai alat untuk memberikan respon intelektual dalam hidup. Bloom menyatakan bahwa otakkita yang sangat komplek dan ingatan yang kuat membuat kita menjadi yang terpintar, akan tetapi dapat juga kita lihat,inteligensi inilah yang membuat kita lemah terhadap efek trauma (Bloom, 1999, pp.2-3). Skripsi ini terfokus padaCharlie Gordon dalam novel Daniel Keyes Flowers for Algernon. Tujuan skripsi ini ialah mengungkap trauma CharlieGordon dalam novel Flowers for Algernon.Skripsi ini menyertakan analisa tentang trauma Charlie yang digambarkan dalam novel, dan penyebab-penyebabmengapa trauma terjadi pada Charlie dalam novel. Studi in mengaplikasikan Library Research Method, menggunakanteori trauma dan gejala trauma oleh Judith Herman, konsep mental retardasi oleh WHO, dan konsep gifted oleh Sworddan Silverman. Pada analisis data, terdapat dua langkah yang diaplikasikan: Pertama ialah menganalisis bagaimanatrauma tersebut digambarkan menggunakan teori gejala trauma dan teori inteligensi. Pengaplikasian teori gejala traumaini diaplikasikan pada dua kondisi Charlie: sebagai orang yang berkebelakangan mental dan sebagai orang yang pintar.Kemudian, untuk mengetahui peran inteligensi Charlie dalam mempengaruhi traumanya, teori inteligensi yangmencakup mental retardasi dan genius/gifted juga diaplikasikan. Langkah kedua ialah menganalisis penyebab mengapatrauma tersebut terjadi pada Charlie menggunakan teori trauma.Hasil skripsi ini menunjukan bahwa ketika Charlie menjadi seorang berketerbelakangan mental, walaupun iamempunyai trauma, ia tidak merasakan efek yang berat pada dirinya. Sementara itu, Charlie sebagai seorang yangpintar merasakan efek trauma lebih parah. Walaupun individu dengan keterbelakangan mental lebih sensitif terhadapstress yang dapat mengarah pada trauma, efek yang didapat tidak seserius individu dengan inteligensi yang cukup.Lebih jauh, peran inteligensi Charlie dalam mempengaruhi traumanya menjadi parah atau menjadi lebih baik danpenyebab mengapa trauma tersebut terjadi padanya juga terungkap.Keywords: trauma, pengalaman traumatik, gejala-gejala trauma, inteligensi, mental retardasi, genius/gifted.34
Revealing Charlie Gordon’s Trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.hand, being not able to response intellectually also is nota good thing. It would give foreign feelings and stresswithout understanding why.Trauma is not something new in literature. Thereare many literary works that also use this psychologicalproblem as a theme. Daniel Keyes’s Flowers forAlgernon is one of them. This study would like to revealCharlie Gordon’s trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers forAlgernon. In the story, Charlie’s responses to traumawhen he was mentally retarded and when he was anintelligent man are very different. It would be interestingto analyse Charlie’s trauma which is related and isinfluenced by his intelligence in Flowers for Algernon.Flowers for Algernon is Daniel Keyes’s firstsuccessful novel and his most famous novel. It gets twoawards: Hugo Award in 1959 and Nebula Award in 1966.It also gets many praises from several publishings. DanielKeyes himself is one of the great American authors whowas majored in Psychology and American Literature(Keyes. H, 2010, p.1).Mr. Keyes is “fascinated by the complexities ofthe human mind” (Ohio Reading Road Trip, 2004, p.1).That’s why he used almost the same theme in all of hisnovels. Keyes mostly describes the complexity of humanmind, what human mind can do, and many possibleimpacts it could cause. He can describe the complexity ofhuman mind to a well and easy reading novel. Most ofhis novels tell a story about human tragedy or trauma thatshows how the character becomes a “new or different”person than before (Keyes. H, 2010, p.1).INTRODUCTIONThe word “trauma” is not something new neitherin psychology nor in literature. The word trauma itself isvery common in psychology. It is one of psychologicalproblems which always gets special attention amongpsychologists. It gives bad impact, for example: a personcannot live normal in daily life. The trauma survivorsfear that the traumatic event might repeat again, or fearthat the danger might come at any moment, or maybe feelin deep regret, or endured the horrible flashbacks or evennightmare. It makes a traumatized person neither live inthe past nor in the present because there will always besomething as reminder.Psychological trauma is an affiliation of thepowerless. When experiencing traumatic event, thevictim becomes helpless because of the overwhelmingforce. When the force is that of nature, we speak ofdisaster. When the force is that of other human being, wespeak of atrocities (Herman, 1997, p.33). There are manythings in life that can cause trauma and have bad impactto the person who has it which can be from badexperiences, such as: abusive experience, seeingsomebody’s death, and many other things that cause aperson to feel helpless or to feel in danger. Moreover,trauma does not only come from other human being butalso that of nature, such as: earthquake, flood, etc.A traumatized person experiences traumasymptoms. According to Judith Herman (Herman, 1997,p.35), there are three symptoms, those are: hyper arousal,intrusion, and constriction. Most of traumatized personwill experience these symptoms. In this case, thosepeople who have enough intelligence. Otherwise, thosewho do not have it might not be able to experience thesethree symptoms fully.Traumatic events are external, but they quicklybecome incorporated into the mind (Terr, 1990, p.8). Thisis where human intelligence might take the role ininfluencing the trauma. Trauma actually is all about whatis in the mind. Because human has mind that providesintellectual response, and it makes the response to traumaeven worse.In terms of intelligence, there are people who havehigh intelligence (gifted) and low intelligence (mentallyretarded). These two kinds of people have different waysin facing every day life. It also makes them havingdifferent responds to what had happened to themincluding the responds to trauma.According to Margaret Charlton and friends,people with developmental disability [mentally retarded]are more likely to be exposed to trauma and rmes, and Taverne, 2004, p.5). Whereas,according to Sandra L. Bloom, our intelligence also is theone that leave us vulnerable to the effects of trauma(Bloom, 1999, p.2). Being human being and is gifted withfeelings and intellectual response has it advantages anddisadvantages. Our intelligence helps us to process and tounderstand information. Unfortunately, sometimes theway we process information is too much. On the otherRESEARCH METHODThe thesis is regarded as a descriptive-qualitativestudy and uses library research. The descriptive methodof this study can be elaborated as the following:1. DataThis study uses novel of Daniel Keyes, entitledFlowers for Algernon which published by HarvestBooks in 2005 as the main data of this thesis. Thedata are in the form of quotations focusing on themain character (Charlie Gordon)’s dialogue, minds,and behavior that reflects on his trauma.2. Data CollectionThe method of collecting data, which is used in thisthesis, is library method (Library Research) as anapproach to analyse this study. The kind of LibraryResearch here is intensive or closely reading to searchquotations or phrases and to analyse literary elementboth intrinsic and extrinsic. The references are takenfrom library and contributing ideas from the internetthat support the idea of this study.3. Data AnalysisSome steps of how the data is analysed will bedescribed as follows:a. Classification based on the statements of theproblem. This classification is used to avoid thebroad discussion. There are two classifications inthis study. First, is Charlie’s trauma depicted inFlowers for Algernon. Second, is why the traumahappens on Charlie in Flowers for Algernon.35
Revealing Charlie Gordon’s Trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.b. Describing Trauma. Quotations divided into thesame as the two classifications that had beenmentioned: first, how trauma depicted on CharlieGordon and second, why the trauma happens onCharlie Gordon.c. Revealing Charlie Gordon's trauma in DanielKeyes’s Flowers for Algernon. The first analysis,how Charlie’s trauma is depicted will be analysedusing theory of trauma symptoms and theory ofintelligence. And the second analysis, why thetrauma happens on Charlie will be analysed usingtheory of trauma.The quotation above shows Charlie’s other hyperarousal as retarded man. During the preparation for thebrain surgery, Charlie was scared. He was even morescared and had extreme unease feeling lying on the bedwith doctors around him. His body reacts irritably eventhough all the people in the surgery room will not doanything that harm him.The trauma survivor has intense reaction tospesific stimuli associated with the traumatic event(Herman, 1997, p.36). When being strapped down,Charlie’s reaction was intense. His uncomfortablereaction worsen when his legs and arms were strapped onthe bed. then 2 other men waring wite masks too cameand straped my arms and legs down so I coudnt movethem and that maid me very skared. His stomach feelstight that he wants to vomit and cry and accidentally peein his pants, I was gone to make all over but I dint onlywet a littel and I was gone to cry.In regards to his retardation, Charlie only knewwhat he felt. He felt scared and he did not like it. He doesnot think further on the reason why he could feel thatway. People with mild mental retardation tend to haveshort attention spans (Watson, 2014, p.1), that unableCharlie to think further and just focus on what ishappening to him for the time being. Again, he justaccepts the feeling and neither was able to do somethingabout it nor had any idea about it.In this hyper-arousal symptom, Charlie as amentally retarded man does not have difficulty to sleep.Charlie is able to sleep well during the night.ANALYSISCharlie Gordon’s Trauma Depicted in Flowers forAlgernonCharlie’s Trauma as Mentally Retarded Man1.Hyper-ArousalHyper-arousal is when the human system of selfpreservation is going into permanent alert, as if dangermight return at any moment. Criteria of hyper-arousalinclude: startles easily, reacts irritably to smallprovocations, and sleeps poorly (Herman, 1997, p.35).This first symptom appeares dominantly than othersymptoms in Charlie as mentally retarded man.I dint know what he [Burt] was gonna do andI was holding on tite to the chair. but hekept telling me to rilax and that gets meskared because it always means its gonnahert. (Keyes, 2004, p.2).2.IntrusionThis second symptom of trauma is about a“repeating memory of the traumatic event”. Hermanincludes two criteria of intrusion, those are: flashbacksduring waking states and as traumatic nightmares duringsleep (Herman, 1997, p.37).This second symptom of trauma is not visible inCharlie Gordon’s behavior as retarded man because itrelates to Charlie’s disability in remembering well.The quotation above shows Charlie’s nervousreaction sitting on a chair with Burt asked him to relax.He reacts irritably that he was holding on tight to thechair. Somehow, Charlie feels nervous and it becomesworse when Burt asked him to relax. He feels unease andslightly afraid.Sadly, at the time, Charlie’s lack of intelligenceunable him to process his feeling further. He just acceptsthe unease feeling. However, eventhough he is not able toresponse intellectually in regards to his retardedcondition, his body still response on its own unique wayto the repetition of the traumatic event. Just as mentioned,the body of trauma survivor has an extreme startleresponse to unexpected stimuli, as well as an intensereaction to specific stilmuli associated with the traumaticevent (Herman, 1997, p.36).His name is Burt. I fergot his last namebecause I dont remembir good. (Keyes, 2004,p.2).I don’t remember so good what Burt said butI remember he wantid me to say what was inthe ink. (Keyes, 2004, p.2).Dr. Strauss asked me how come you went tothe Beekman school all by yourself Charlie.How did you find out about it. I said I don’tremembir. (Keyes, 2004, p.4). He [Dr. Burt] patted my head and then 2other men waring wite masks too came andstraped my arms and legs down so I coudntmove them and that maid me very skared andmy stomack feeled tite like I was gone tomake all over but I dint only wet a littel and Iwas gone to cry but they put a rubber thingon my face for me to breeth in and it smelldfunny. (Keyes, 2004, p.14).Mild mentally retarded people have memorydifficulties, delays in speech development, and delay inlanguage development (Watson, 2014, p.1). Thus unableCharlie to recall his memories well and even speak aboutit. It can be seen in some quotations as mentioned above.36
Revealing Charlie Gordon’s Trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.As we know, Charlie has disability inremembering with short and long term memory becauseof his retarded condition. He has difficulty inremembering what had happened to him in the past andin current event. In result, Charlie does not experiencethis second symptom of trauma because his currentintelligence does not support him in experiencingflashbacks and nightmares.Quotation as mentioned above is Charlie’s hyperarousal with seat-belt. His effort to overcome his reactioncan be seen. He manage to hold his over reaction to aminimum. In this condition, Charlie still does not likebeing strapped with seat-belt or belt. Threat [danger]initially arouses the sympathetic nervous system, causingthe person in danger to feel an adrenalin rush and go intostate of alert (Herman, 1997, p.34). In his intelligentcondition, Charlie still feels the threat from the seatbelt.It is the same response when he still retarded but thistime with more of his intellectual response. He tried toprotect himself by asking the stewardess "Do I have to? Idon't like to be strapped down." He also tried to beingreasonable, as mention in quotation below.3.ConstrictionIn Charlie’s retarded condition, he does notexperience this symptom because of his lack ofintelligence. Dissociation is commonly called as multiplepersonality disorder and observing from outside the bodyis commonly called as depersonalization, need enoughintelligence to be able to experience them.Dissociation is a psychological process wherebyparts of a person’s experience are kept out of consciousawareness (Wastell, 2005, p.152). The cause ofdissociation are the feeling of helpless and numb. Therelate person who feels that way does not able to bear thepain anymore and then dissociates. He creates newcharacter/characters to bear the pain, to avoid someexperiences, and accidentally share the intelligence.In the other hand, depersonalization is marked bythe separate mental feelings or body, as if a personbecomes an observer outside her body (Nevid, Rathus,and Greene, 2005, p.210). the depersonalization alsoneeds enough intelligence to be able to remember andpicture situations. A person who depersonalized tend tocreate his own imagination in picturing himself andpositioning himself as the one who watch the eventinstead of as the victim/ the player.Ridiculous. There's nothing to be afraid of.Seat belt isn't too tight-doesn't hurt. Whyshould putting on the damned seat belt be soterrifying? That, and the vibrations of theplane taking off. Anxiety all out ofproportion to the situation. (Keyes, 2004,p.134).With his intelligence, Charlie starts to reason thathe should not be afraid of it. He thinks that it isridiculous to be afraid of something that does not hascapability to harm him.so it must be something. what?. flying upinto and through dark clouds. fasten yourseat belts. strapped down. strainingforward. odor of sweaty leather. vibrationsand a roaring sound in my ears. Through thewindow-in the clouds-I see Charlie. Age isdifficult to tell, about five years old. BeforeNorma. (Keyes, 2004, p.134)Charlie’s Trauma as an Intelligent Man1.Hyper-ArousalIn regards to Charlie’s terrible body reaction onbeing strapped down in his retarded condition, thishyper-arousal symptom appears worse on him in hisintelligent condition. Charlie’s body not only reactsbadly on being strapped down, but also reacts badly inseeing someone held knife and being close to women.Fortunately, due to his intelligence, he is able to analyzehis issues and overcome his reaction.Charlie tries to think analytically and tries toremember the cause of his fear which put him on aflashback that makes him understand. Gifted have greatanalytical thinking and is very insightful (Silverman,1993, pp.51-78). Thus helps Charlie to overcome hisover-reaction to seatbelt by thinking analytically.I forgot all about it [the seat-belt]. I'll justleave it on until we land. It doesn't seem tobother me anymore. (Keyes, 2004, p.144)"We're ready to take off, sir. May I help youfasten your seat belt?""Do I have to? I don't like to be strappeddown.""Until we're airborne.""I'd rather not, unless it's necessary. I've gotthis fear of being strapped in. It'll probablymake me sick.""It's regulations, sir. Here, let me helpyou.""No! I'll do it myself.""No. that one goes through here.""Wait, uh.Okay." (Keyes, 2004, p.134).Henceforth, below is Charlie’s hyper-arousalwith someone holding knife.She [Alice] toyed with her knife makingcircular depressions in a pat of butter and themovement hypnotized me. (Keyes, 2004,p.79).Charlie accidentally sees Alice toys with her knifeand it hypnotized him. Whenever he sees someoneholding a knife, it makes him uncomfortable, although37
Revealing Charlie Gordon’s Trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.the person does not have bad intention with that knife. Atfirst, Charlie does not understand why he responds thatway. Then he understands after memory of his childhoodwith his mother comes to him.Then after understanding the cause of his fearthrough the flashback, being strapped down with seat-beltdoes not bother him anymore. It doesn't seem to botherme any more. Gifted people are highly perceptive(Sword, 2014, p.1). Thus helps Charlie in quickunderstanding of the situation.Another Charlie’s hyper arousal is when hisrelationship with Alice becomes physically close andCharlie could not bear it.out: "You. you do it! Hold me!" (Keyes,2004, pp.112-113).Regarding the quotation above, with hisintelligence, Charlie thinks that if he tries not to feel thepanic, then maybe everything will be fine. Or if justAlice is the one who held him, then maybe everythingwill be fine.And before I knew what she was doing, shewas kissing me, holding me closer thananyone had ever held me before. .,it started:the buzzing, the chill, and the nausea. Iturned away from her. (Keyes, 2004, pp.112113).She [Alice] was standing close to me,waiting for me to kiss her. I put my armaround her, but it happened again. If I didn'tget away quickly, I would pass out. (Keyes,2004, pp.101-102).However, in the end, Charlie’s body responds tothe stimuli of the traumatic event get the best of him. Heneither able to avoid the unease feeling to come nor fightit. Charlie’s attempt to endure the unpleasant feelingsbroke because his body response is more dominant. Thelonger Alice offers him the comfort, the feelings worsen.Charlie feels not only the panic, but also the buzzing, thechill, and the nausea. It explains again more aboutBloom’s theory that the trauma survivor cannot controlthat body response because it is a biological, built-inresponse, a protective device that only goes wrong if weare exposed to too much danger (Bloom, 1999, p.3).Charlie has been exposed to this kind of danger(being abused physically, emotionally, and neglectly)repeatedly in his childhood. It was his mother who oftengave him this kind of treatment. It makes Charlie hasunease feeling of being close to women and seeingsomeone with knife in hand. Unlike his success to get ridof his trauma of being strapped down by thinkingrationally, it is not easy to get rid of the rest of histrauma.Despites Charlie’s feeling for Alice, he still doesnot able to get near her physically. The quotation aboveshows Charlie’s body unpleasant reaction while Aliceoffers him comfort in his hard time. Although Charliewants to welcome her comfort, somehow his bodyrefuses it.If someone is exposed to danger repeatly, theirbodies become unusually sensitive so that even minorthreats can trigger off this sequence of physical,emotional, and cognitive responses (Bloom, 1999, p.3).This time, Charlie’s body reacts with the need to pass outif he does not pull away from Alice immediately. Alice’scomfort triggered it. If I didn't get away quickly, I wouldpass out.At the moment Charlie’s body response to Aliceas a threat. Charlie cannot avoid his physical andemotional response even though he wants to. He can donothing to control his reaction because just like Bloomsays, it is a biological, built-in response, a protectivedevice that only goes wrong if we are exposed to toomuch danger and too little protection in childhood or asadults (Bloom, 1999, p.3).Yet, due to his intelligence, Charlie tries to reasonrasionally. He tries to reason that Alice will not harmhim. Gifted people have great intellectual characteristicssuch as: exceptional reasoning ability, analyticalthinking, also has the need for precision/logic(Silverman, 1993, pp.51-78). Thus, Charlie tries toanalyse the situation, reason with himself, and thinkslogically while enduring the unpleasant feeling and triesnot to be panic.2.IntrusionThis second symptom appears in Charlie as anintelligent man. As an intelligent man, his intelligenceprovides him with good memory which according to(Sword, 2014, p.1), Gifted people have a good long-termmemory. Thus, his ability in recalling memories,especially the long-term memory one helps Charlie tounderstand more about his childhood.This second symptom of trauma is about“repeating memory of the traumatic event”. Hermaninclude two criteria of intrusion, those are: as flashbacksduring waking states and as traumatic nightmares duringsleep (Herman, 1997, p.37). As an intelligent man,Charlie starts to have nightmares and flashbacks.His first nightmare was triggered by Miss Kinnianwhile she was reading his report in school.Maybe the fear and nausea was no longer asea to drown in. but only a pool of waterreflecting the past alongside the now. . If Icould reach Alice in time-without thinkingabout it, before it overwhelmed me-maybethe panic wouldn't happen. If only I couldmake my mind a blank. I managed to chokeThe dream was about Miss Kinnian readingmy progress reports. .when Miss Kinnianreads the report she gets angry and tears thepages up because they've got dirty words inthem. .Prof. Nemur and Dr Strauss .they38
Revealing Charlie Gordon’s Trauma in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.give me a beating for writing dirty things inthe progress report. .I pick up the torn pagesbut they turn into lace valentines with bloodall over them. (Keyes, 2004, p.50).return with all the vividness and emotional force of theoriginal event (Herman, 1997, p.37). Nightmares andFlashbacks are always have something that trigger thoseto appear. The nightmare and flashback above aretriggered by Miss Kinnian while she was reading andhelping him write his report the day before.The next nightmare and flashback come again toCharlie after seeing Alice toyed with a knife in theirdinner date the day before. Below is the nightmare.That night Charlie dreamed of Miss Kinnianreading his report. Miss Kinnian, Prof. Nermur, and Dr.Stauss get angry on him and torn the report because ithas dirty words in it. When Charlie looked into his tornreport, it turned into a valentine card with blood.After having the nightmare, Charlie woke up thenext morning. He wondered why he had that kind ofdream. It is then followed by the flashback which relatedto his dream.I'm running down a long corridor, halfblinded by the swirls of dust. . I'm afraidbecause I'm hiding something in my pocket. Idon't know what it is or where I got it, but Iknow they want to take it away from me andthat frightens me. .girl with her armsoutstretched to me - . She takes me into herarms, kisses and caresses me, and I want tohold her tightly but I'm afraid: The more shetouches me, the more frightened I becomebecause I know I must never touch a girl.But when I look up I see a bloody knife inher hands.I try to scream as I run, but no sound comesout of my throat, and my pockets are empty.(Keyes, 2004, p.83). writing. big pencil on a red valentine. alittle gold heart. a locket. a chain. allcovered with blood. The chain is from alocket. spinning around .flashing thesunlight into my eyes. And I like to watch itspin. watch the chain. all bunched up andtwisting and spinning. and a little girl iswatching me. Her name is Miss Kin - I meanHarriet. "Harriet. Harriet. we all loveHarriet."And then there's nothing. It's blank again(Keyes, 2004, pp.50-51).In his nightmare he was running from a girl with abloody knife in hand who want to take something fromhim. In his dream, he hide ‘that something’ in his pocket.After he wakes up, it is then followed by the flashback. Itrelates to his unease feeling with a knife. In reality it wasCharlie’s mother who chased him with kitchen knifewhen he was a child because he was caught peeppep onhis sister, Norma. As mentioned in the flashback below.This flashback is about his childhood crush,Harriet, who he gave a valentine card to with dirty wordsin it. The dirty words was written by Charlie’s friendswho intentionally did it to have a prank on him. Whenhis flashback started to bring Harriet face clearer, itbeomes blank. However, after Charlie started toremember again, the flashback continue.She's a little girl with dimples and long curlsand her name is Harriet. We all love Harriet.It's Valentines Day.I remember.I remember what happened atP.S. 13 and why they had to change myschool and send me to P.S. 222. It wasbecause of Harriet. (Keyes, 2004, pp.5051).a woman bathing. a girl. Norma taking abath. I am watching through the keyhole.she gets out of the tub. I see that her body isdifferent from mine. Something is missing.Running down the hallway .somebodychasing me. a big flashing kitchen knife andI'm scared and crying but no voice comes out. "Mama, Charlie is peeking at me throughthe keyhole ."Why is she different? What happened to her?Blood. bleeding. a dark cubbyhole.(Keyes, 2004, p.84).Apparently the flashback is about one of thepranks that Charlie’s childhood friends did to him. Hewanted to give the most beautiful girl in school, Harriet,a valentine card because all love Harriet, so he loved hertoo. But he couldn’t write so he asked his friends to do it.His friends wrote dirty words in it and Charlie did notaware of it. Harriet cried and the teacher expelled Charlieout of school. At that time, in his retarded condition,Charlie was confused and did not know what he haddone wrong. Now he understands all.Judith Herman says, small or seeminglyinsignificant reminders can evoke memories, which oftenFrom this flashback, Charlie understands thecause of his unease feeling of knife. It was because hismother ever chased him with kitchen knife for peepingon his sister while she was taking a bath.There in the clothes hamper he finds Norma'sunderwear with dried blood. What had shedone wrong? He was terrified
Flowers for Algernon which published by Harvest Books in 2005 as the main data of this thesis. The data are in the form of quotations focusing on the main character (Charlie Gordon)'s dialogue, minds, and behavior that reflects on his trauma. 2. Data Collection The method of collecting data, which is used in this .
